On Hillary Clinton and Sexual Assault Allegations

Clinton declares that we are all obligated to believe sexual assault allegations since rape victims have a right to be believed.

The Washington Free Beacon covers the story by pointing out Hillary Clinton’s breathtaking hypocrisy under the headline, “In Shift, Hillary Clinton Says Rape Victims Have Right to Be Believed.”

The story says these comments “appear to be a reversal.” A reversal of what? A reversal of the way she treated all the women who complained about sexual harassment by Bill Clinton!

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, multiple women who came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment or assault were subjected to public and private attacks on their credibility by the Clinton camp.

Juanita Broaddrick, who says she was raped by Bill Clinton in 1978, claimed she was personally threatened by Hillary Clinton after she came forward in 1998.

Kathleen Willey, who accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment her at the White House, said Hillary Clinton “orchestrated a terror campaign against every one of these women, including me.”

Paula Jones, the woman who sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, was dismissed as trailer trash by Clinton aides, who hinted that she was just trying to make money off her accusations. Clinton eventually settled the case for $850,000.

When Hillary Clinton served as the court-appointed attorney for a 40-year-old man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in 1975, she targeted the accuser’s credibility in court records.

The girl was “emotionally unstable” and had the “tendency to seek out older men,” Clinton wrote in a court affidavit.

Clinton later suggested that she believed the man was guilty of raping the girl in an audiotaped interview obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. During the case she helped her client plead down to lesser charges and got him a significantly reduced jail sentence.

The Washington Free Beacon is right that Hillary Clinton is a horrible hypocrite and that her record as a feminist and as a human being is disgusting.

But let’s not overlook the fact that telling sexual assault victims that they have a “right” to be believed is destructive to them, or to the justice system, or to both.

When a person accuses another of rape, the police have to investigate. Their first duty, on hearing an allegation is to confirm that the allegation is true. They need to find evidence, or at least corroborating testimony that the crime actually took place and that the person accused is the real guilty party.

None of this may be pleasant to the victim, but she cannot simply expect the police to arrest or the courts to convict a person merely on the basis of her assertion. Guilt must be proven beyond reasonable doubt.